Braves quotes from Ryan Weber, Cameron Maybin and Fredi Gonzalez after Thursday’s 3-0 loss to the Nationals.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On Ryan Weber’s 10-strikeout performance
“Couldn’t have asked for anything more. Most strikeouts he ever had in his career, I think was eight or nine in Danville. He gave us every opportunity to win the ballgame today. We played good baseball, other than that eighth inning. The ball never left the infield (and they scored two runs anyway after error). We may not score in the ninth inning, but it’s a lot easier to score when it’s 1-nothing than 3-nothing.
“But Weber was great. Burawa was pretty darn good, getting in that first-and-second, nobody-out jam and should have got out of it. So those are some bright spots there.”
On Strasburg getting out of some tight spots, six scoreless innings
“I thought we had some good at-bats (against him) even there at the end. We had a couple of guys on. He only pitched six innings, but his pitch count was really high. I thought we had some good at-bats, we just didn’t get two or three in a row.”
Notice right away that Weber had a lot more movement on pitches than did last week in Miami?
“Yes, because the swings were different. Not knowing him, this is only his (fifth) start, the comfort level not there yet like it is with the other guys. But shoot, he makes his last start of the season and that was pretty darn impressive, after coming off the last start where he didn’t get out of the second inning.”
Has Weber’s five starts at least given you something to thing about in offseason?
“He sure has. He has pitched pretty darn good. At the very least you go, OK, if he doesn’t make the (rotation) and he goes back to Triple-A he can help us, or he goes back to the bullpen, or whatever. He throws the ball over, he’s got movement, he gets ground balls, he fields his position. We feel comfortable with him.”
On Bethancourt’s thumb aggravated
“He had some great swings against Strasburg. It just depends how that bat knob gets him. It hurts him a little bit more when he swings and misses than when he makes contact. I didn’t want to try to grin and bear it there with him. We’ll reevaluate. Hopefully he catches a couple of these games this weekend, but if not we’ve got Lavarnway or A.J. can do it.”
**RYAN WEBER
Was tonight satisfying for you, to pitch that well in your last start of the season?
“Yeah, especially after what happened in the last outing. Being able to finish strong like that, it’s given me something to look forward to when I head into spring.”
Are you pleased with what you accomplished in your five starts?
“Oh yeah, just given the chance to come up here and start and show what I can do. It really made me feel good to know I can compete at this level.”
On difference between this game and Miami last week when he got bombed and left before end of second inning
“Well, the only good thing about going two innings and throwing 50 pitches is that I was fresh (tonight). My arm felt good and I was able to throw strikes to both sides of the plate with all my pitches.”
“In the last start I was more rotational. I threw two bullpens and worked on it, and the ball was more north and south. It helped my off-speed, too.”
On holding his own vs. Strasburg
“I kept the team in the game. We had a chance to win, but we just couldn’t push anything across against him.”
On overall experience being up, best part of it
“I proved that I can compete at this level and I can give a major league team a chance to win a ballgame when I’m out there pitching.”
**CAMERON MAYBIN
On getting more hits off Strasburg than Nats got off Weber, but just not the big hit when needed it
“Yeah, it seemed like he just made his pitches when he needed to. Both guys did a great job with going out and commanding the strike zone. Just one of those things where we couldn’t quite push one across when we needed to. We had some opportunities with two outs there. They made some good pitches when they needed to.”
On Weber bouncing back with strong outing after getting roughed up in last one at Miami
“More than anything, just to see the aggressiveness, attacking the strike zone, coming right back, not thinking about it, going right at guys. Any time you can go right at guys like this, with their lineup, and get early strikes, it’s going to benefit you and the guys behind you. It allows us to get in a defensive rhythm, allows us to make plays behind him. He did a great job of just continuing to get the ball and pump strikes after strikes. He gave us a chance, he did.
“He did a great job of commanding his pitches. It seemed like wherever Lavarnway wanted the ball tonight he was right around that target. I’ve really enjoyed watching him pitch, man. He’s one of those guys who throws whatever the catcher puts down. He’s got a good rhythm and good pace. As defensive guys, we like playing behind guys who have no fear.”
